RRO Zone Play: Screen Away Pick and Roll

I’ve been asked numerous times for a very long time now by many readers if I could please do more animated illustrations. I would like to do more of them, but they just take me so long to do. This set, for instance, took me 11 hours and 50 minutes to do.

Of course, if I did them more often I would be able to do them more quickly… but let’s not bring that up right now. 🙂

At any rate, here is a set I adapted from a play I saw Coach Monty Williams use with the New Orleans Hornets. I was impressed with how effective it was for them, and because I could see a way to adapt the set to the Read and React Offense (RRO), I did.

I can tell you that the play solid — both at the NBA level and in youth leagues with young men as young as 12 years old.

I will say though, like I do twice during the animation, the key to making this set work is aggressive, decisive passes and cuts. If the players hold on to the ball, or dribble it about, or fail to make their cuts, the set is useless.

If you will execute the set with brisk passes and fakes, you will keep the defense on its heels and a step behind you — which is just where you want them.

Please let me know if you give it a go, and how it works for you. It will make me feel like burning this entire day to animate this play wasn’t a waste of time. 🙂

P.S.

Because this set starts with a pass from a wing, another way it can be used is after a skip pass. In other words, if one wing skip passes to the other wing, then that can trigger this set. The ball handler will then pass to the top and screen away for the corner.